Rays’ day: ‘nohitter,’ rookie’s debut, sweep
Five Tampa Bay pitchers combined for seven hitless innings, and the Rays beat visiting Cleveland 40 Wednesday for a doubleheader sweep.
Collin McHugh (two perfect innings), Josh Fleming (74 after allowing one walk in 22⁄3 innings), Diego Castillo (one out), Matt Wisler (one inning) and Pete Fairbanks (one inning) combined for the hitless performance in a game cut to seven innings under pandemic rules.
The game will not go onto the list of nohitters. MLB decided in 1991 that a nohitter was a game of nine or more innings that ended with no hits.
Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner pitched a seveninning nohitter against Atlanta in the second game of a doubleheader on April 25, another that did not count.
“We celebrated like it was” a nohitter, McHugh said. “That’s all that matters to us is having a good time with it.”
Cleveland had three baserunners, including Oscar Mercado, who reached against Fleming after third baseman Wander Franco and shortstop Taylor Walls collided on a routine grounder leading off the third. Originally scored an infield single, the call was changed later to an error on Franco for running into Walls.
In the opener, Kevin Kiermaier homered with a careerhigh five RBIs, top secondbase prospect Vidal Brujan had an RBI single in his MLB debut, and the Rays won 81.
Brujan, 23, had a remarkable first inning. He took a hit from Amed Rosario in the top half by diving left on a hardhit grounder. In the bottom half Brujan hit an RBI single, stole second and scored on Kiermaier’s double for a 30 lead.
Franmil Reyes homered for the Indians, who have lost nine in a row — the longest skid of Terry Francona’s managerial time in Cleveland.
“We’re not, obviously, firing on all cylinders.” Francona said.
Marlins 9, Dodgers 6: Jesus Aguilar hit a two-out, threerun homer in the bottom of the ninth as Miami beat Los Angeles for the third straight game.
Angels 5, Red Sox 4: In Anaheim, Shohei Ohtani hit his major-league-leading 32nd homer and broke Hideki Matsui’s major-league season record for homers by a Japanese player. It was the twoway player’s 15th homer in 20 games. Fellow All-Star Jared Walsh homered twice for Los Angeles, which won for the sixth time in seven games.
Cubs 8, Philles 3: Anthony Rizzo, Joc Pederson and Nico Hoerner each had two hits and an RBI as host Chicago ended an 11-game losing streak.
D’backs 6, Rockies 4: Eduardo Escobar hit a three-run homer and Humberto Castellanos threw four shutout innings in a bullpen game for host Arizona.
Braves 14, Pirates 3: Pinchhitter Abraham Almonte had a go-ahead, two-run single in the sixth and added a two-run homer as visiting Atlanta avoided a series sweep.
White Sox 6, Twins 1: Lance Lynn allowed one run over six innings in his first start since earning a berth on the AL All-Star team, and visiting Chicago beat Minnesota.
Tigers 5, Rangers 3: Pinch hitter Miguel Cabrera had a go-ahead RBI infield single in the seventh for visiting Detroit. Joey Gallo homered twice to become the first Rangers player with 10 homers in a 10-game stretch.
Brewers, Mets split: Homers by Manny Piña, Luis Urias and Willy Adames helped visiting Milwaukee win the nightcap 5-0. In the opener, Jacob deGrom’s ERA crept above 1.00, but New York rallied in the seventh and eighth to win 3-2.
Reds 5, Royals 2: Sonny Gray (2-4) gave up two runs over seven innings, and Jonathan India hit a two-run double as visiting Cincinnati rallied for three runs in the seventh.
Blue Jays 10, Orioles 2: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had three hits and drove in two runs to increase his MLB-leading RBI total to 73, and Bo Bichette homered for visiting Toronto.